Photographed above is the whole Kaz team: L to R Karen, Kylie Morrison, Lisa Nicholls, Hannah Fromont and Shaun Kirkham standing behind.
A passion for children, the community, and the need to give back has secured Kaz Design. Brand. Web. a spot as a finalist in the Rocketspark Community Good Awards.
Kaz also won the Fastest Growing Client award at Rocketspark's Launch Awards.
Rocketspark Design Partner, Kaz, have done some incredible things for the community of Cambridge, especially for the younger members of the area.
This comes as no surprise since founder, Karen May, was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal in 2017 in recognition of her commitment to the community.
Karen said it had always been in her to give back.
“From a young kid I learned about being of service to others, being a Brownie and Girl Guide, being a Brownie leader, a netball coach and a netball umpire contributed to that.
“I’ve always had this philosophy that you need to give back, not just take. When it comes to business, Cambridge has supported my business, and so I need to give back, and I’ve chosen to give back into the not-for-profit sector,” Karen said.
One of the highlights over the last year has been the work Karen and the team have done for Octopus for a Preemie NZ.
The aim of Octopus for a Preemie NZ is to provide a crocheted Octopal to every premature baby in hospitals across the country.
The Octopals are made using very specific materials, 100 percent 4ply cotton that can be washed at a high temp and made to a very specific size and standard for safety reasons.
Octopals are not toys, they are a comforter and soother for premature babies, the tentacles of the octopus resemble the umbilical cord. This reminds the babies of their time in the womb and helps to comfort and soothe.
“In 2019, Rocketspark gave us a free not-for-profit site for-life voucher to give away. We put it out on a Facebook giveaway post that we had a website to giveaway and that’s how Octopus for Preemie NZ came to us.
“They were the only entry that didn’t already have a website. They had a Facebook page, but that was about it. We also designed the website for free, which is something we do for all of our not-for-profits.”
Karen said it was great to be able to give them a better online presence, and somewhere that was a lot easier for people to download patterns and join the Octopal making team, something anyone could do.
“I tried to crochet one, it was a lot harder than I thought! I’m used to kitting and it’s quite different. I’m going to persist though!” Karen laughed.
For Karen, it was a no brainer to pick the Octopal making gang because of her passion for children.
“We’re proud of this website, showcasing Octopals who provide comfort for preemies and new parents. It was also awesome to hear about another wonderful not-for-profit in our wonderful Cambridge community.”
Dawn Harpur, Octopus for a Preemie NZ Charitable Trust founder, said her and her team loved what Kaz created for them and it would not have been possible for them to have this website if it was not for their amazing support.
“We are able to reach potential new volunteers who do not have Facebook, they can easily access our patterns and people can find information about what we do and what the Octo Project is all about. The website is also a fun and colourful place to visit, thank you so much,” Dawn said.
Another standout for Kaz is their work with the Cambridge Parent Centre, which supports local parents through support networks, friendships and is passionate about quality parenting.
Cambridge Parent Centre’s main services include providing free Antenatal Courses for first time expectant parents and parent education in the early years.
They also run very successful pregnancy and post natal exercise classes twice a week, the only one of its kind in the Waipa area.
“Not-for-profit organisations are generally run by community minded and enthusiastic people on committees and those committees often change and with that change information can get lost, such as how to get into and edit a website. That’s what happened with Cambridge Parent Centre,” Karen said.
After coming across the old site, the Kaz team offered to build the centre a new website, populate it and show them how to look after it, and of course, they didn’t charge for the design work and gave them a discounted rate for the website subscription.
“Because we are now on the footer of the website, if information changes hands, we are always easily contactable when it comes to website maintenance. We just wanted to give them a clear fresh look that was user friendly and meant we could help them, regardless of any changes, going forward.”
Here's what Cambridge Parent Centre has said about Kaz on its website: “Karen and the team at Kaz Design. Brand. Web recently upgraded the Cambridge Parent's Centre website for our organisation and we are so thrilled with the results.
“The website now appears much more modern and contemporary. As a volunteer run organisation things need to be simple, time effective and efficient for us to use - our new website ticks all these boxes.
“The Rocketspark website is easy to use and looks fantastic. We are getting many more enquiries for courses, volunteer opportunities, membership and much more.
“Being a community not-for-profit organisation we believe this website has made a huge difference for not only us, but the community of families we assist with pre and post natal education courses.
“We were taught how to edit the website ourselves so we can update things as we need. The team at Kaz have been awesome to deal with and we are extremely thankful to be offered these services from Karen to update our old, difficult to use website.”
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